Cholera in a time of war
(Cross-posted from The Reaction.)
As if things weren’t bad enough in Iraq, there’s now this:
A case of cholera has been confirmed in southern Iraq, a senior health official said today, raising fears the virulent water-borne disease is spreading through the country.
The vast majority of Iraq’s 1,500 cases are in the north but cholera has been confirmed in Baghdad this week and now near Basra in the south.
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The latest WHO report, dated Sept. 14, reported a total of 24,532 cases of people with symptoms of cholera such as diarrhea and vomiting in the northern provinces of Sulaimaniyah, Tamim and Irbil. It said 10 people have died — nine in Sulaimaniyah and one in Tamim.
This outbreak points back to two huge problems in Iraq: deficient drinking war and inadequate health care. And, while cholera and other such diseases are admittedly serious problems throughout much of the underdeveloped world, including Iraq, these two problems point back to two other problems specific to the present context: the gross mismanagement of the Iraq War and Occupation in general and the similarly gross mismanagement of the reconstruction effort in particular.
To be fair, the U.S. does not deserve the blame for everything that has gone wrong in Iraq, let alone for all that is wrong in and with Iraq more generally. Bush, Cheney, Rice, Rumsfeld, Wolfowitz, the PNAC neocons pushing for American hegemony, and the rest of the “we’ll be greeted as liberators” invasion enthusiasts deserve much of the blame, a lot of blame, but Iraq was hardly a healthy place under Saddam. And yet, one cannot help but wonder what would have happened, what would have been different, if there had actually been a genuine plan for “post-war” Iraq, for reconstruction, for nation-building, not just regime change. Would there still have been cholera, outbreaks of various such diseases? Yes, likely so — but one imagines that there also would have been less deficient drinking water and less inadequate health care, that Iraqi society, both public and private, would have been in a better position to deal with such challenges.
Instead, the occupation has dragged on for years with no end in sight, Iraq has devolved into civil war, and the country, as a whole, remains in a shambles. In short, the war has been lost — regime change achieved, but little beyond that, and certainly not the new Iraq — liberal, democratic, peaceful, secure, stable — dreamed up by the warmongers, the delusional warmongers, who never seriously understood what they were doing, what forces they were unleashing.
No, it’s no surprise that cholera is spreading through occupied, war-torn Iraq. But, as they say, it speaks volumes.
5 Responses to “Cholera in a time of war”
So Cholera is now in the south as well as North and Baghdad. Great…
Part of the issue is we have banned/restricted Chlorine in Iraq due to its use in some bomb incidents earlier in the year. Unfortunately Iraqi sewage treatment plants can no longer sanitize sewege, because they need… wait for it.. . Yup, you guessed it. Chlorine. Basically anyone living down stream from a big Iraqi city is drinking some prety bad stuff.
The actual WHO press release is here and there is more info here, for those who actually like to review source material. From the WHO report:
All public water supply systems in the affected districts have been chlorinated by the provincial authorities. In addition, water samples from the public water supply sources are being collected and tested routinely to ensure they meet potable water safety standards.
From Radio Free Europe:
…the most important factor will be finding out the source of the cholera. We continue to search for that source, along with our brothers from the health team from Baghdad and health authorities in the city of Al-Sulaymaniyah.”
Doctors said that most of the patients probably drank well water due to a shortage of treated drinking water, a common problem in Iraq during the summer.
From what I’ve read, the core problem is indeed, the lack of clean water, good sanitation and adequate health care.
Even if this were related to the war, it’s really too late now for ‘what if’ speculations to do any good for finding solutions. Some US army units have trucked in clean water to villages, I’ve heard reprted, but the amount and regularity are,, by necessity,, very limited.
Shortages of clean water are a growing problem in large areas of the world, notably sectors of Africa along with other areas. Some predict that water will be the cause of the next round of wars, just like land has been.
When it comes to Iraq in these cases I can’t help but think about the corruption (in both money and attitudeI in its government departments. Too much of its own oil money as well as aid money evaporates before it can be used fowards the needs of the populace. It may be the case, however, that moaning about corruption in the ME doesn’t do any more good that talking about how we came to be in Iraq in the first place. It’s such an ingrainded part of the culture, that it’s very hard to combat. When bribes are seem as ordinary parts of doing business and making political deals, combatting the practice is tantamount to reshaping the centuries old culture. Much like spreading democracy, that’s a tall order.
Plus, the security situation makes everything worse.
Plus, the grwing rates of malnutrition among Iraqi children is a serious concern.
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